“A letter from General La Fayette, of December 29, from Lagrange, tells us—and as he belongs to the nation, we may repeat—that Madame Perier (the eldest daughter of Mr. George La Fayette) has just made him a great-grandfather. The same letter says, ‘I expect to be in town in a few days, and enjoy the agreeable American society which has convened there from the several parts of the Union. It will be something like a Washington winter.’”
The following is the substance of General La Fayette’s address at the Fourth of July dinner in Paris, in 1829:—
“The health of their venerable guest, General La Fayette, having been given, the general in returning thanks, stated the pleasure which he felt in celebrating this anniversary, which enabled him, as it were, again to breathe the American atmosphere. He spoke with high gratification of their associating him with the principles for which he had struggled under the illustrious and well-beloved Washington. The independence of the United States began a new era of political civilization, which will finally extend over the whole world, and which is founded on the natural rights of mankind. He was proud to own that the first declaration of those rights bore the indelible imprint of its American origin. He referred in eloquent terms to the delight with which all generous minds had hailed the recent triumph in Great Britain over religious intolerance, and earnestly advised the Americans in consolidating their constitution not to listen to European suggestions, nor admit any exotic materials. He concluded by giving a toast to ‘National Legitimacy,’ which, while it choked and destroyed the weeds of privilege, nourished the roots of natural and solid right.”
In 1829 General La Fayette came into possession of a large property under the indemnity law, being the fortune of his own and his wife’s family, of which the Revolution had deprived them.
We will quote from one more speech of La Fayette, in the French Chamber of Deputies, on the 9th of July, 1829. The question under discussion was the accordance of an eventual credit of fifty-two millions of francs.
“Gentlemen,” said La Fayette, “though I have voted against approving the budget of expenses, in the hope that its refusal would prove a prompt and efficacious means of obtaining those institutions and economies which France has for so long a time expected, yet I feel disposed to vote in favor of the credits demanded, provided the chamber receives those explanations which it stands so much in need of. I do not see in the great quarrel of the east, as regards ourselves, anything beyond our importance as an intermediate power in what is called the balance of Europe; only two classes, the oppressors and the oppressed; in the demarkation of states, nothing but their natural limits; in the well-being of a people, nothing but the advantage of all; and in the policy of France, nothing but a liberal and independent part to act. You know, gentlemen, that great and powerful alliance which would enslave and brutalize the human family. It covers the peninsula with blood, oppresses Italy, and throws other states into disorder. Vienna is its metropolis, and in spite of other pretensions, Don Miguel is its ideal type.
“England has pretended to favor the world with another beacon, whose light is sometimes extinguished, and at other times shines but to decoy; upon this point inquire of Italy, of Spain, and of Portugal. It is for France then, gentlemen, which finds herself more in accord with our ideas of the new civilization, to place herself at the head of that civilization; in that consists her glory and her interest; there, too, in case of need, will be found her ambition; and there, also, the dignity and the safety of her government. But to perform that noble task it is necessary that the government resolve no longer to fear either a representative or an armed nation, and that abandoning its former relations, it may be able to say to foreign powers, ‘Next to God, it is to the people of France that I am indebted for being elevated above your influence and beyond your pretensions.’
“I will confine myself, gentlemen, to a few remarks on the grounds to which our attention has been invited by the application made for the credits now under consideration.
“Some of my honorable friends have spoken harshly of the expedition to the Morea; they have even thought that it was in no degree whatever entitled to public approbation; but I have so ardently desired some kind of interference, particularly French interposition, in behalf of Greece, that I cannot join them in their criticisms, and as to our portion of that generosity which was manifested in the relief afforded, without speaking of Russia, whose motives are obvious, it would be sufficient to advert to two discourses from the throne, in one of which the battle of Navarino is called by Charles X. glorious, while from George IV. it received the appellation of untoward, to prevent us from confounding the shades of the two interests in the cause of Greece, and to mark the distinction between the cannonading at Terceira and the hospitality at Brest. The last protocol, however, from London has humbled my pride and diminished my expectations.
“Why, gentlemen, have the Greeks taken up arms? why have they endured so many calamities? why have they so freely shed their blood? It was to free themselves from paying tribute to the Turks; to build up again their ancient country; and to enjoy in their own way the blessings of self-government. But now, gentlemen, the protocol brings into fresh existence the odious tribute; the greatest part of Greece is shut out from Greece, and to govern the small portion which remains it is proposed to look, I know not where, or for whom, but for some foreign prince, a hospodar, a mongrel of the East and of the West, in whom the Greeks will only behold a vassal of the Porte, and for whom they must pay an additional tribute.